WEST BANK: Young men and women study together at first Palestinian security academy

Record ID: 561503

  • Title: WEST BANK: Young men and women study together at first Palestinian security academy
  • Date: 15th February 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEBREW TEACHER, NICOLA BAJALI, SAYING: "It is very important in all levels, such as helping people, translating, also to fight the crime, it is important in all levels. It is important to read and study Hebrew and to help people in Hebrew, because we are connected with Israel in many cases. It is also important for them." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS EATING THEIR LUNCH AT THE DINING ROOM VARIOUS OF STUDENTS IN THEIR SLEEPING QUARTERS STUDENTS IN THE COMPUTER LAB VARIOUS OF STUDENT AHMED ABU JAMOUS WORKING ON THE COMPUTER CLOSE OF ABU JAMOUS'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) STUDENT AHMED ABU JAMOUS, SAYING: "Everyday our nationalist side is growing more, and our loyalty to the country and the academy in particular. We aspire that Palestine will be freed and Jerusalem becomes our capital." VARIOUS OF ACADEMY STUDENTS DURING THE MILITARY MARCH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) STUDENT MALAK EL ZIBEN, SAYING: "We are all the same here, as long as he is a policeman, I am a policewoman, so he has exactly the same powers as I have." MORE OF THE DAILY MILITARY MARCH
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Education
  • Reuters ID: LVADGK3C1RF8AWS2GCMHLTJSRGN0
  • Story Text: A Palestinian security institute is breaking boundaries in the quest for complete gender equality at its training camp in the West Bank town of Jericho.
    Male and female students train and study together at the Palestinian Security Academy, with its first batch of qualified cadets graduating last summer.
    The Chairman of the Academy's board and founder of the academy, Tawfik Tirawi, said that the academy holds a series of courses including basic training; advanced skills in combat; law enforcement and investigation.
    "When the Palestinian state is established, this institution will be ready with its members. Many of the students who will graduate will become one of the columns of this security department, which must be academic, scientific as well as professional, in order to build a real security institution that protects the people, the land, and protects law and order," said Tirawi.
    In 2006, the academy was registered in the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Higher Education. The academy offers the Hebrew language as part of the main educational courses.
    Hebrew is taught on a Bachelor of Arts degree level during a student's four years at the academy, to help future cadets better liaise with Israelis and become familiar with the language of their adversary.
    "It is very important in all levels, such as helping people, translating, also to fight the crime, it is important in all levels. It is important to read and study Hebrew and to help people in Hebrew, because we are connected with Israel in many cases. It is also important for them," said Hebrew teacher Nicola Bajali.
    The students pay a mere 20 Jordanian Dinars (about 28 U.S. dollars) as fees to study in the academy until graduation, later the graduates are tied to working for 15 years for the Palestinian Security Forces.
    Students are thus relieved from searching for a job after graduation, and also feel a sense of loyalty to the academy.
    Seventeen-year-old Ahmed Abu Jamous, who is away from his family in Tulkarem refugee camp, said the academy had installed a sense of national pride in him.
    "Everyday our nationalist side is growing more, and our loyalty to the country and the academy in particular. We aspire that Palestine will be freed and Jerusalem becomes our capital," Abu Jamous said.
    Among the 300 students, 32 are female and many of them veiled - yet all seem to be confident that they will succeed in their studies and future careers.
    Policewoman Malak El Ziben, 32, serves in the Nablus police and is currently a diploma student. She says the equality at the academy is excellent.
    "We are all the same here, as long as he is a policeman, I am a policewoman, so he has exactly the same powers as I have," she said.
    The academy is funded by other, well-established security academies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, as well as receiving funds from the Palestinian Authority.
    The security environment in the West Bank has improved dramatically since June 2007, with a significant increase in the number of trained Palestinian Authority security forces deployed to urban areas such as Jericho, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jenin.
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